"So, when should we leave?" Muni asked.

My mouth was full of food. I looked at him and shrugged. And looked at Oli. She dusted her hands and leaned forward " We are ready, to go wherever, I mean he packed everything 3 days ago. I thought you were also ready, considering you brought things with him".

Muni gave an awkward smile. " Haha, yeah."

Jani had a look at Muni, then at means then towards Oli.

"So, I'm the only one who isn't ready? When I talked to my parents they said that one of my cousins will be at Banavechi city till the autumn equinox. So, I need to be there by that time. Until then I'm up for anything"

" So, we are going then" Muni had a stupidly big smile on his face.

"Let's do one thing, take tomorrow to organise your essential travel & then we could start our travel day after tomorrow. How about that" I said

"YOU STILL HAVE TO PACK... " Oli looked at me shocked.

" She has to pack" I pointed to Jani who nodded at Oli.

We paid for the food and left the restaurant.

On our way home, I stopped at the meat market which elicited a questioning look from Oli. I pointed at Vera who despite his small frame was already on his 3rd round of meat.

"Do you guys have any backup food reserves?" I asked Muni & Jani, to which both of them shook heads indicating a big no.

"It would be better for everyone to have some backup food reserve with them in person. We might not know what will happen on the road. We might or might not be able to hunt. There are also chances of being separated. We don't need to risk it. Keep some reserves."

We went & bought a pig each weighing around 10 kgs. I bought 2 chickens and some fish. It cost us a total of 40 bronzes. Muni paid the cash as he was the only one with cash. As we left the market all of us went to the bank first to withdraw some cash and then left for our respective homes.

I took 2 silvers and 100 bronzes .

The next day was a rest day for me. Jani & Oli went shopping. Muni had some work to be done alongside his father. I sat at my home calmly enjoying the day, holding a small sack containing 2 water bags and some berries. Weirdly enough, Dhi loves to snack on the berries. I was lazing around in my home yesterday evening snacking on some berries while Dhi was running around the home. He saw me eating something. He curiously looked for a few moments before jumping up and taking one for himself and nibbling on it. Then he had this expression of getting nectar from heaven. Funnily enough the name of the berries was Nectar berry.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

On the day of the journey, I woke up early and went to pray at the tombstone of my parents that was erected at the edge of my property. When I say property, it was just a small piece of land around 15 cents ( Roughly around 607 Sq.mtrs).

I walked back to the house, locked it and started walking. I stopped after a few steps and looked back. I could see my parents waving me off on my journey. I wiped the drop of a tear near my eyes and put on a smile and started walking again.

I was at the door steps of Oli very soon. She was holding a small bag by her side. Her dimensional ring was on her hand with a shiny stone on top of it. Her spear was hanging on her right hip. Her spear was a bit special. It was a double sided expandable model. Both the top and bottom end had round pointed tips rather than the flat pointed tips commonly seen. The spear reached a maximum height of 6 feet but is retractable to 1 foot making it easy to carry. The middle part of the spear contains a special handle which operates the sheathing and unsheathing of the spears.

She was smiling and waving at me. The excitement of travelling was all over her face. Her parents were also beside her.

" Hey uncle Sampo & Aunt Maga" I waved to them.

"Kid, you guys are traveling through dangerous routes & times. Keep each other safe. Eat food at regular intervals. Drink lot.........." Oli's mother went straight into advice & didn't give anyone any time to say anything. Uncle Sampo hugged her from the side and waved us off while telling Aunt Maga to stop crying.

We laughed at that site as we walked.

"So, are you excited?" Oli asked.

"Nope, entirely not" I said smiling

"God.... If you can't lie, why try?" she said as she hit him in his arms. By this time we saw Jani. Her family was also giving her send off. Her mom was waving in tears. So were her other family members. That was an emotional scene. Then we moved on. Before long Muni also joined us. His house was not in the direction of our destination. We were going to go through the eastern forest to the town of Medhu city which is the nearest city and its about 2 and half weeks travel to reach if we go by normal reach. But if we go through Eastern forest and another 2 villages, we could reach there in about 1 and half weeks or so.

All of us walked towards the gate and into the forest as soon as we entered the eastern forest.

Muni stepped forward and shouted " Adventures of a lifetime here I come."

2 hands simultaneously hit him on the back of his head.

__________________________________________________